13 Assassins (2010)
Sunday 24th November, Deptford Cinema
Doors open @ 1.00pm, Film starts @ 1.30pm
Tickets: £6.00 Full / £4.50 concessions
director: Takashi Miike
starring: Gorō Inagaki, Kōji Yakusho
year: 2010
country: Japan
run-time: 125 mins
rating: 15
Synopsis
We close the Samurai Sundays season by fast-forwarding four decades for a contemporary entry into the classic chanbara genre from one of the world’s most prolific directors.
In what has remained one of Takashi Miike’s most critically-respected films, we follow an ensemble of thirteen co-conspirators who plot to kill the despicable and unaccountable Lord Naritsugu before he is appointed to the Shogun’s Council; an event which will very likely trigger a civil war.
The group aim to end the tyrant’s reign by installing an elaborate system of booby-traps and camouflaged fortifications within the town of Ochiai, into which they will then lure Naritsugu. However when the Lord eventually arrives his army has multiplied significantly, as has the size of the task now facing the band of would-be assassins.
Just like in the genre’s most influential film Seven Samurai (to which 13 Assassins pays significant homage), an epic finale sees our heroes battle against insurmountable odds for a greater good.
The ‘Samurai Sundays’ season has been programmed by Peter Blunden, and is kindly supported by the London East Asia Film Festival.